Teddy's Chance
by blamethenargles2
Summary: Five-year-old Teddy Lupin wants to know his parents. With the help of a fortunate accident, Teddy, along with his Uncle Harry, get the chance. Time-Travel Story. I know this is a very common idea, but I have made it my own. Read and Review, please. Rated K only because Sirius and others might make a little inappropriate humor, but nothing big.
1. Harry's Confession

Five year old Teddy Lupin lay in bed. The little boy had just had dinner with his best friend Victoire, along with his Uncle Harry, and many others. Now, he was back at home with his grandmother, and Teddy Lupin had a question nagging at his mind that was even more terrifying than the monster that he was certain was under his bed. He tried to ignore the question, because he had already pondered the question many times and asked many people, but to no avail. No one would ever answer his question, even when he gave his grandmother the pouty face. He already asked his Uncle Harry. But Harry always said, "Maybe when you're older." Teddy didn't understand why, but he knew that one day he might. He paused in thinking when he _knew _he heard a growl coming from under the bed. He hid under the covers, petrified. When the low, menacing growl finally went away, Teddy sighed and succumbed to sleep. But his last thought, before finally giving in to Mister Sandman, plagued his dreams for the rest of the night. As he heard a wolf howling at the beautiful full moon, he closed his weary eyes and thought,

_Why don't I have any parents like Vicky does?_

* * *

The next morning, Teddy hopped gleefully out of bed, joyful that the scary monster from under his bed didn't devour him in his sleep. All thoughts of his unknown parents were gone from his mind as he skipped happily downstairs. The only thing Teddy thought about was the delicious smell of bacon wafting in from downstairs.

His godfather, Harry Potter, was there, cooking the bacon. His grandma was nowhere to be found, although it was likely that she was with Mrs. Weasley, with whom she was very good friends. Teddy didn't mind much, because he was very close to his godfather, who practically raised him.

As Teddy sat crunching on the tasty bacon as Harry told him funny stories, the world seemed perfect.

Until—

"Uncle Harry, where are my parents?"

Uncle Harry looked utterly taken aback by the question. Recovering from his initial shock, he said, "Well, Teddy, I think that's a tale for another day."

Teddy frowned. He hated that answer. It meant that he wasn't grown up enough yet. Why, he could tie his shoes all on his own! Surely that meant that he could know where his Mommy and Daddy were.

"But—"

"Not now, Teddy, I need to talk about it with your grandmother first."

Teddy assumed that meant yes. Happy about getting some information, he hopped away to the living room, where there was an owl tapping away with a copy of the Quibbler.

Teddy received it happily and only looked at the cover, for he was a little lad and couldn't quite read that well yet.

Teddy went off on a wizarding adventure with all his toys, but not before wondering curiously,

_What in the world is a Nargle?_

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry was panicking.

_What should I tell him? He's only five years old! He wouldn't handle it well!_

Harry fretfully paced the room as he thought.

_But I can't lie to him and give him false hope! If I don't tell him, he might think that his mom and dad are coming back one day!_

Finally, he decided he would let Andromeda make the decision. She would probably know what to do.

That night, Harry sat down at dinner with Andromeda, with Teddy at his house with Ginny. He didn't want the poor boy to overhear the situation.

"Alright, Harry, what's going on?" Andromeda narrowed her eyes at him. "You wouldn't do this unless you wanted to discuss something."

Harry sweated nervously. "Well, uh—it's about Teddy…."

Andromeda gestured for him to continue.

"Uh—his parents…" Harry trailed off, his hands sopping wet with sweat.

Andromeda sighed. "You want to tell Teddy about his parents, don't you?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know what to do! He's been asking a lot lately, and I'm not sure if we should tell him or not."

Andromeda hung her head. "I know we have to tell him eventually, better now than when he's 11 and finds out about it at Hogwarts."

Harry was relieved at finding a solution, but he wasn't happy at all.

"How do you tell a five-year-old boy that his parents are dead?"

* * *

Teddy and Ginny were eating dessert at Albus' (a restaurant dedicated to war hero, Albus Dumbledore) when Teddy's young mind was bothered by another question.

"Aunt Ginny, where do babies come from?"

Ginny didn't know what to say.

"Why do you want to know, Teddy?"

"Was I born different from everyone else?"

"No, of course not, why would you think that?"

"Because everyone else has a mommy and daddy and I don't."

"Oh, Teddy," Ginny couldn't hold back her tears.

Teddy watched her, bewildered, as she sobbed right into her Lemon Drop Surprise.

_I guess she didn't like the dessert, _Teddy thought.

* * *

"Teddy?" Harry said cautiously the next day.

"Yeah, Uncle Harry?" Teddy said distractedly, focused on his toy.

"Do you really want to know about your parents?"

That caught the boy's attention. He ran excitedly at Harry.

"What are they like? What are their names?"

Harry smiled half-heartedly. "Your mom's name is Nymphadora Tonks, but it was changed to Nymphadora Lupin when she married your daddy."

Teddy beamed as his hair turned a vibrant turquoise.

Harry grinned, Teddy's happiness pulling him out of a dark mood. "And that's another thing! She could do what you can do! She's a Metamorphmagus too!"

Teddy smiled and said matter-of-factly, "Met-uh-morf-muh-gus."

"Right! And she is real clumsy, but your daddy loves her anyway. Your daddy's name is Remus Lupin, and he is special too. Teddy, do you know what a werewolf is?"

Teddy nodded. "Some people say they're mean and scary. But I don't think so, because you told me that they can't help being a werewolf!"

Harry nodded. "Well, your daddy is one. But don't be fooled! Your daddy is one of the nicest men I know. He really cares about you."

Teddy giggled contentedly.

"Your dad's really smart and he has three best friends, who love him so much."

Harry's grin faded from his face. "Teddy, you know the battle I told you about?"

Teddy nodded, and said with difficulty, "The one where you defeated Vole-duh-mort?"

Harry nodded. "Your parents fought in that war, which was very brave of them. Teddy, you know why Uncle George is so sad on April Fools?"

Teddy looked confused and said, "Because he lost Uncle Fred?"

Harry nodded sadly. "He died in the battle that I told you about. He bravely gave his life to help make it so that no one would have to die because of Voldemort ever again. And this is the sad point in my story, Teddy."

Teddy still didn't seem to understand.

Harry sighed and tears welled up in his eyes as he said. "Teddy, your parents died in that same war."

Realization sank in for Teddy. "You mean—" He whispered, choking back tears. "They'll never throw me a birthday party?"

Harry nodded solemnly and embraced the boy. Andromeda stood in the background sobbing.

"Teddy, don't be terribly sad, your mommy and daddy are with everyone else in Heaven,"

Teddy still wept. "Why didn't they want to be with me?"

Andromeda shook her head fervently. "Your parents love you more than everything, even now. Don't even think for a moment that they didn't!"

Harry nodded. "They died for you. So you wouldn't have to live in a world with bad guys,"

Teddy stopped wailing for a moment. "So, they're with Uncle Fred? And Hedwig? And Dobby?"

Harry smiled at the boy. "Yes, and Sirius and my mom and dad and Snape and Mad-eye and Dumbledore! They're looking down on us, and guess what, Teddy; they're proud of you and me and everyone else and they love you."

Teddy smiled. "So one day I'll see them?"

Harry nodded. "One day."

"And they know what I'm doing!"

Andromeda nodded.

"D'you think they know about that time I pulled Vicky's hair?"

Harry and Andromeda laughed.

* * *

Later that night, Teddy lay in bed, care-free.

"Why is it I'm so happy? My parents are gone." He whispered to himself.

Still, after Harry's confession, he took Teddy and most of the family to the Burrow, where all his friends and family were, and they told him stories about Uncle Harry and my parents, which cheered him up.

"Oh, bugger-off," He said to the monster under his bed as it growled.

A few minutes passed before Teddy felt his eyes fell droopy.

"Thank you for loving me," He said to the room happily before nodding off to sleep.

Teddy was unaware that he would meet his parents sooner than expected.


	2. Back in Time

Over the course of the next few days, Teddy seemed normal, almost as if he hadn't been told anything about his parents. He remained curious and inquisitive and yanked on Victoire's pigtails. Andromeda assumed that it was because of the fact that Teddy now knew that he had parents who loved him, which before he was unaware.

Almost a week later, Teddy didn't cry once, except one time when he was sure the monster under his bed had nipped at his toes as he was getting into bed.

Sure, occasionally he asked about his parents, and Andromeda would tell him about his mother, and Harry would tell him about his father. Sometimes Ginny was there, and would tell him about Fred, too.

Harry, Andromeda, and Ginny watched as wonder grew in the boys' eyes. He was fascinated with his parents; everything about them was stimulating to him. But it wasn't an obsession; he was just happy to know that he had parents, because not knowing itched at him.

A couple of weeks after that, it was Harry's birthday. Teddy sat at Potter Manor and waited with Ginny for Harry to come home so they could take him to dinner.

"Aunt Ginny, what's the Or-dur of the Fee-nicks? Harry mentions it sometimes." Teddy said, pronounciating everything carefully.

And Ginny went into a full explanation of the Order and who was in it.

"So you mean, my parents and their friends were fighting Vole-duh-mort?"

A few minutes passed as Ginny told Teddy about the secret surprise party she'd planned for Harry, and how the entire Potter and Weasley clan and many others would be there and how grand a celebration it would be.

Ginny excused herself to the restroom and Teddy decided to explore the Manor.

* * *

The Manor was huge—so big that when Teddy shouted, it echoed. However, it wasn't old and impressive like Malfoy Manor was. No, Potter Manor was comfy and you always felt at home, even if you were a stranger. The Manor was really interesting too; there were twists and turns and cool rooms where guests could stay. This was useful, considering how huge the whole family was.

Teddy was exploring a room—Harry's office, the door said—when something caught his eye.

It was shining and brilliant gold.

Since Teddy was a very curious boy, he decide to examine it.

What happened next, I think you can guess.

He reached toward it and gingerly grabbed it off the shelf on which it sat.

It seemed to be a small pendant on a chain; in the middle, there was an hourglass. This interested Teddy because he had never seen anything like this object before. Curiously, he flicked the pendant, and it spun. He giggled mischieviously, and flicked it again.

Then Harry burst in.

"TEDDY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

This alarmed Teddy and caused him to drop the pendant. It fell to the ground and the hourglass shattered. The sand inside the hourglass poured out rapidly.

"TEDDY! QUICK—MOVE!"

Harry ran towards Teddy, who was terrified and bewildered at the same time.

Just then, Teddy felt a twisting feeling and disappeared.

And Ginny witnessed the entire thing.

* * *

Teddy couldn't see anything, everything was going by so fast, like a blur. He couldn't see Uncle Harry, or Aunt Ginny, or any of the Manor at all. All he knew was that he didn't know what was going on and that he was scared. He prayed that he wasn't dying. He was just standing there, utterly frightened. And then, it stopped, the world was visible again, and Uncle Harry was standing there, looking a mix between terrified, angry, and confused.

"Uncle Harry, what-?" Teddy began, but Harry shushed him and pulled out his wand.

Teddy looked around. He was sure that he was in the Manor before the world started spinning, but now, he and Harry were standing on a vacant expanse of land.

"Teddy, hold my hand."

Teddy obeyed the command.

"Alright we're about to apparate, okay?"

Teddy nodded. He had experienced apparition before, but it still scared him.

The twisting feeling of apparition was gone as quickly as it had come, and Teddy saw that they were in Diagon Alley.

But it wasn't the Diagon Alley he knew; Teddy couldn't place it, but Diagon Alley looked different somehow.

He and Harry passed by where Albus' was—or at least, where it was supposed to be. In its place, there was an old looking shop called "Gambol and Japes."

And Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes wasn't there either.

Finally, Harry came to a stop in front of the Daily Prophet headquarters. He examined one of the newspapers in front.

"Oh no, oh no," He said in hushed tones.

"What?" Teddy said, completely confused.

"I'll explain later."

Then Harry whisked Teddy away again to the Leaky Cauldron, except it was much older-looking.

Harry checked into a room without saying a word to Teddy.

Once they got into the room, Harry shut the door and cast a spell that Teddy didn't recognize.

"Muffliato!"

Harry looked very grim as he sat down on one of the beds.

"Teddy," he began. "I need to tell you something, and it's very important and you can't ever tell anyone. Can you do that?"

Teddy nodded.

"Okay. You remember that necklace you took? Well, that was called a Time Turner. It goes back in time by a few hours."

Teddy gave a look to tell him he was listening.

"However, this particular Time Turner was very unstable and fragile. It was unknown what would happen if it shattered. And when you dropped it, we went back in time, not by a few hours, but by eight years. Today is July 31st, 1995."

Teddy looked almost happy. "Really?"

"Teddy!" Harry scolded. "This is serious! This is bad! I hope you realize that right now, Voldemort is still alive! And I'm not sure what to do!"

Teddy teared up. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

Harry shook his head. "You didn't know. Alright, just go to sleep and I'll think of something."

"Uncle Harry?" Teddy said, yawning.

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean my parents are alive?"

Harry sighed solemnly. "I guess so, buddy. Go to sleep."

* * *

The next morning, Teddy awoke to Harry snoring away.

Teddy grinned. He had had nothing but good, joyful dreams the entire night, and there was no monster under his bed. The monster back at home must be missing him.

Teddy grinned mischievously as drool dribbled from his Uncle Harry's chin. With a running start, Teddy charged—and landed right on Harry, who woke up with a start.

"Oof!" Was all Harry could say when the little tike landed on his stomach.

Teddy couldn't stop giggling.

Harry smirked. "I can't believe you'd do that, you little sneak." And with that, Harry started tickling his godson.

After a few minutes of Harry and Teddy goofing around, Harry suddenly became serious.

"Teddy, I think I've come up with a plan,"

Teddy stopped giggling at that.

"We're going to go to Grimmauld Place."

Teddy looked confused.

"What?"

"Teddy, remember how I told you about the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Aunt Ginny told me about them. She said you guys fought the bad guy."

Harry nodded. "Its headquarters was Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place."

"Oh, yeah, you've brought me to that place once. You own it, don't you?"

"Yes I do," Harry paused for a moment. "Teddy, if I'm not mistaken, The Order of the Phoenix should be there right now."

Teddy's eyes lit up, and his hair turned pink. "So, we're going to see them?"

Harry didn't reply; he seemed to be debating the idea. Finally, he sighed and said, "Yeah, buddy. But we'll have to disguise ourselves; I'm obviously Harry Potter, and you like a lot like your parents."

Teddy looked up at Harry with his wondrous eyes. "My mommy and daddy are there?"

Harry nodded.

Teddy smiled. "I can meet them?"

"Only if you promise not to tell them who we are."

Teddy sulked.

Harry frowned. _The poor kid hasn't met his parents, just like me,_ he thought. _I wish it could be different, but there's no other way. We can't just waltz into Hogwarts and talk to Dumbledore. _

"Listen, Teddy. I know you want to hug and kiss your parents, but you can't."

Teddy's lip trembled, as if he was about to cry.

"Teddy, you can't give us away. I need you to act like you don't know who anyone is, not your parents, not Sirius, not any of the Weasleys, or Aunt Hermione, or even my younger self. You can't give us away. We are not supposed to meddle with time. This is really serious. I need you to understand."

Teddy nodded, any sign of crying gone from his face. The only emotion left was seriousness.

"Teddy, tell me you won't give us away. Promise me."

"I promise." With a swift motion, Teddy made a cross over his heart.

"Okay. Do you remember that old Muggle movie we watched together? Peter Pan?"

Teddy nodded.

"Do you remember little Michael? What he looked like?"

Teddy nodded. "I remember. He was blond, and he always had his teddy bear."

Harry nodded. "Can you make yourself look like Michael? Can you picture him clearly and use your abilities?"

Teddy nodded, closed his eyes, screwed up his eyebrows in concentration, and scrunched his nose. Teddy felt a warm feeling surging through him, and when it stopped, he turned to the mirror to see a little boy with blue eyes and untidy blond hair. His face was shaped differently, and you couldn't tell that he was Teddy Lupin at all.

"Good job! Now, I'll cast a spell on myself to make me look different. Take great care to stay like that."

With that, Harry pulled out his wand and waved it over himself silently.

In a split second, Harry looked nothing like himself anymore. He too, had blond hair. His hair was the same length as Teddy's, but tidier. Harry's skin was a bit tanner, making him almost look like a surfer dude. His brilliant green eyes, which distinguished him from his father and connected him to his mother, turned to the same dull shade of blue. This gave Harry a depressing feeling, for he had always admired his eyes. He took off his glasses, for he didn't need them. His famed scar faded out of existence. All that was left was a normal man. He looked nothing at all like Harry Potter, the wizard who defeated Voldemort.

Teddy giggled. "You look different, Uncle Harry."

Harry smiled weakly. "Okay. Now we need new names. You are no longer Teddy Lupin, you are now Michael Vallance. And I am going to pretend to be your dad, Daniel Vallance. We're going to be Muggle-Born. Got that?"

"Yeah. Michael and Daniel Vallance. Muggle-born."

"Right. When we get there, we are going to say that we got knocked out and we don't know where we are. Take nothing from anyone. They might slip truth serum into any tea of food they offer us, so don't take any."

Teddy nodded.

"Okay. Whatever you do, don't change anything about yourself or they'll know you're a Metamorphmagus."

"Got it." Teddy said confidently. "That's a lot."

"I know. But it's important. Now, get ready. We're going to apparate in front of Grimmauld Place, go in, and we'll fall onto the floor and act all dizzy and confused. You can do that, I know you can. You have to remember to do everything I've told you."

"Got it. Can we go now?"

"Grab my arm."

As Teddy grabbed Harry's arm, he once again felt the uncomfortable twisting sensation of Apparation. When it stopped, Teddy and Harry were standing on an untidy patch of grass. The place where they had touched down was not exactly welcoming; some of the houses had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.

Teddy wrinkled his nose at the smell; the place reeked of rotten garbage and the air was thick and smoggy. He turned his focus to Harry. "This is where we're going?"

Harry nodded and went walked shakily up the steps of Number Twelve, Teddy trotting along somewhat excitedly behind him.

Harry extended a shaky hand and opened the door. The dark, grim hallway of Number Twelve was revealed and Harry and Teddy raced in, careful not to make a sound. Then, they collapsed deafeningly onto the floor as planned.

In almost no time at all, almost all of the Order raced in, wands drawn.

"Who are you?!" Sirius Black said in disbelief.


End file.
